Sophia Holmes and the Case of Souls
by Dralice99
Summary: Book 11 When a woman claiming to know the Doctor appears at Baker Street asking for help, the Holmes' start to feel they may be a little out of their depth.
1. Prologue

Recap: After saying goodbye to Beth and her dad at the train station in Exeter, we load our cases on and find our seats.

"Right," John says, pulling out his laptop as we sit down. "Best write this case up then."

"What's it going to be this time?" I smirk. "'The Hounds of Baskerville'?" John's eyes widen and I roll my own. "I wasn't being serious."

"No it's - it's the blog," he says, spinning the laptop around so we can see the screen. The entry at the top, the most recent one, is titled 'Hello Boys!' I click into it and read the short message.

"He's back."

Prologue

A few weeks after the Baskerville case, we have got no further towards finding Moriarty than we were before. For just a few minutes, he came out from hiding but now he's gone back underground and is leaving no signs of what his motive was. No doubt he's building up a network again.

So instead, we're trying to track down another case - one which lasts more than half a day. As always, we're getting nowhere. A couple missing people, a murder suicide and a lost inheritance scam. Hardly anything interesting.

"Really starting to wish the criminal classes would get back to work," I sigh, closing another newspage. "No major case has happened in weeks."

"Has Beth not sent you anything?" John asks and I shake my head. Beth and I had an agreement before we left that she would keep an eye out on a local level to see how things settled after we left. For the sake of tourism, they've tried to keep on as usual.

"Nothing," I reply and walk over to the window. "Hey, this looks promising." Dad comes over to the window and looks out to see what I'm meaning. A blonde woman in a black suit steps out of a cab outside our flat and starts towards the door. Looking her over, she looks shaken but controlled - as if she has seen things go wrong before. Her coming here would suggest something has happened which is beyond her control.

We might just have a case!


	2. Chapter One

The doorbell rings and dad, John and I take our seats. Mrs Hudson leads up the young woman we saw outside.

"Sherlock," she says, knocking on the open door. "A young lady is here to see you."

"That is quite obvious thank you Mrs Hudson," dad says, shooing her away and gesturing for the woman to sit down. "What's your name?"

"Wait," John says, sitting up straight. "I know you. You're Billie Piper - the woman from Doctor Who." He turns to us and shakes his head at our clueless faces. "She played Rose Tyler, one of the new companions." I nod. This is slightly weird - meeting one of the women who was in the TV show that we now know to be real. But Piper shakes her head.

"No, I'm not," she corrects. "I really am Rose Tyler. If you're familiar with the show then you'd know I became trapped in a parallel universe - this universe." John frowns.

"But didn't that world have cybermen and airships?"

"According to the show, yes it did," she replies. "But that's not how it played out in reality. But I'm not here about that. I need your help to find the Doctor."

"But as you know," I reply, "he's in the other universe."

"Not that Doctor, my Doctor." Dad and I look at her blankly so John explains.

"There was a regeneration which the 10th Doctor managed to siphon off his residual energy onto his cut-off hand, meaning he didn't have to change his face. This created a second Doctor, but this one was human." Rose nods in agreement.

"The other Doctor left us together in this world and all's been fine until a few weeks ago." She takes her phone out of her bag and hands it over to us so we can flick through her photos. "What do you know of the organisation Torchwood?"

"I know a bit about the TV show Torchwood," John says, sitting forward. "Is the one over here the same?"

"Similar," Rose replies. "No Jack, but the others are there. The reason I'm here is because we've encountered a weird scenario - unlike any of us has seen before."

"If you could be a tiny bit more specific," dad says, rolling his eyes.

"The best way I can describe it is ... supernatural."

"Sorry," I say, shaking my head. "Did you say supernatural? You mean like ghosts?"

"Ghosts," she repeats, nodding, "but also demons." I'm finding that slightly easier to believe after our incident with the Hound, but I'm still not convinced. "Torchwood picked up on a number of people who were going missing only to turn up again acting out of character. We thought alien possession, it's unlike anything the Doctor has ever seen. He and I started working the case together but now he's disappeared. My worry is he's being possessed. If that is the case, we're in a lot of trouble."

"So what do you need us to do?" John asks.

"Find him," Rose says. "He's gone underground and we've exhausted our resources trying to find him. I was hoping you could pick up on something we may have missed."

"What do you think," I ask, turning to dad.

"Not buying this supernatural thing," he replies, finishing with the phone and handing it back to Rose. "You saw what happened with the Hound - it was little more than a drug infused nightmare."

"But we need a case," I remind him. "The worst that could happen is we prove to a secret government agency that it is little more than a serial kidnapper." Dad considers this for a moment and I'm fairly sure he's just weighing up what he's going to tell Mycroft when we prove that one of his organisations are conspiracy theorists.

"We'll take the case."

"Fantastic," Rose replies, standing up. "I'll email you the files we have so far." She walks towards the door but stops before she passes through. "You guys realise you're book characters in my world?"

"Strange," I say, avoiding an answer. She nods.

"See you around, then," she says before continuing on out. As we hear the door close downstairs, we look at each other.

"Are we going to tell her we know the Doctor?" John asks after a minute.

"That's hardly relevant John," dad replies. "It would seem Moriarty has made his move after all."


	3. Chapter Two

True enough, Rose sends through the missing person files half an hour later. Around six people have gone missing in the space of six days, including the other Doctor and there doesn't seem to be a single feature connecting them all.

The first was a teenage boy, fresh from secondary school while the third was a mum of two children. The only connecting feature seems to be that they were all of sound mind, apparently happy according to their next of kin which is always unusual in missing person cases.

Usually if somebody goes missing on their own accord it's because they don't want to be found. Unless it's an abduction, which is always possible. But then again, what would be the motive for abducting these particular people? They don't have money and they're unlikely to have any information someone would need. It's unlikely they were sold for sex either based on the different ages and genders; typically it's young women who are taken for that reason. So why were these particular people taken?

"Getting anywhere?" John asks and I snap out of my mind palace, realising I must have been out of it for hours. He comes in with bags of shopping and puts them on the table and I stand up and start to pace.

"Nowhere," I reply, then look across to dad. Judging by his stiff positioning in his chair, he isn't getting anywhere either. We need to do more.

"It's not like ..." John says, fading off as he thinks, "... I dunno. The Ian Monkford case wasn't it?"

"Janus cars," I reply thoughtfully. "Sign up for a service who will take you away and make sure you can't be found. " I shake my head in frustration. "No, can't be. You know the Doctor better than me: would he have left Rose?"

"I suppose not," John replies after a second. "But there must be some reason they disappeared - people don't just vanish out of thin air."

"Perhaps not," I respond and rub my temples. "I don't know. We need to start talking to people - do some digging." Dad comes out of his thoughts and opens his eyes.

"Wants," he says and I snap my head around to face him.

"Sorry?"

"Wants," dad repeats. "That's the connection!" John looks at dad blankly so he explains. "All of those people have reached a point in there life when they want something to happen, something which would affect their lives." He stands up and strides across the room, stepping on and then off the coffee table as he makes his way to the far wall. "The sixteen year-old," he continues, pointing to a picture of Daniel Hardy - the boy who was abducted first. "Just finished his GCSEs. A* student but worried about his results at the end of the year. Wants to go into University, needs good grades. Next - the young mother." He moves his finger across to Ingrid Turner. "Two children, separated and just been made redundant. Needs money, doesn't want to go to her family for help. Need I go on?"

"No," I say, nodding. "I've got you. But why would wanting something lead to them going missing?"

"I don't know," dad admits, stepping off of the sofa and striding back to the other side of the room. "I've got a few ideas but I need to check them first. You two - John, I need you to speak to Robert Banks and Katie Sheffield's families; Sophia, the same but with Daniel Hardy and Ingrid Turner. I'll do Harvey Kilner and William Elliot." John and I nod in agreement. "Find out who they were closest to, who they were most likely to get help from. Hopefully that should shed more light on the situation."

"Pretty loose hope," I reply, smirking.

"But hope nonetheless."


	4. Chapter Three

I manage to find Daniel's friends quick enough through Facebook and manage, quite easily actually, to get one who appears to have been his closest friend to meet up with me in town.

"Hey," he says as he enters the cafe we agreed on an hour later. "Sophie wasn't it?"

"Sophia," I correct as he pulls the chair opposite him out and sits down. "And it's Liam, yes?"

"Yep," he replies, smiling. "What is this, an interrogation?"

"No," I reply sarcastically. "I've seen you round school and wanted to date you. Tell me about Daniel."

"No need to be like that," he answers defensively. "I was only messing."

"And I'm only asking. When was the last time you saw Daniel?"

"Why the hell should I tell you?" Liam replies.

"Because you turned up to a meeting with a complete stranger days after your best friend went missing."

"Might be some other reason for that," he mutters and I raise an eyebrow. He shakes his head. "Look, I dunno okay! Dan and me were pretty close, don't get me wrong. I want him found, I just don't see how talking to someone the same age as me is going to help."

I roll my eyes and pull out the fake police ID I made. "Does this help?" Liam nods hesitantly so I continue. "When was the last time you saw Daniel?"

"Probably the night he went missing," he says after a moment, then widens his eyes. "That doesn't mean I had anything to do with his kidnapping though! We were just hanging out."

"What makes you think it was a kidnapping?" I ask, frowning. "He could have run away."

"If he was going to run away," Liam replies his tone changing, "why would he have made plans for the day after?"

"What sort of plans?"

"Only the usual sort of stuff," he says, shrugging. "Have a party, stay over at one of our mates and watch a few movies." I nod.

"So he wasn't showing any signs of stress for his results?"

"Course he was!" Liam replies. "But we all are. Means a lot to us. Dan was freaking out a bit about them a bit more though."

"How'd you mean?"

"He's been acting weird for the past week or so - doing things a bit out of character really. For instance he's started becoming really superstitious. Asked me to order a set of those 'yes and no' dice, do you know the ones?"

"Yes."

"He said he just wanted them for a laugh but we went for a Chinese the other day with the lads and started freaking out over his fortune cookie. Some stupid crap about having to work harder for desired future or something. Not really relevant though, is it?"

"Everything's relevant," I reply, standing up. "Thanks for your time, Liam. You've got my details if anything else comes to mind."

"What do you reckon happened to him?" he asks, still sat down. "He's still alive, isn't he?"

"No body has been found but it doesn't rule it out," I answer but then see his face and rethink. "Probably not though."

So Daniel was a little superstitious. Something tells me that's important but I don't know why. It's clear that whatever happened wasn't their own choice - they were abducted. But that only slightly narrows our search.


	5. Chapter Four

Rose meets us at Tucker's Park to check up on our progress.

"See what I mean?" she asks, grimacing as dad, John and I walk up to her. I comb a hand through my hair and shake my head.

"It doesn't make any sense," I admit. "There seemed to be a running theme of spiritualism in my two but that can't have anything to do with it."

"Not unless they were taken by ghosts anyway," John adds sarcastically.

"Not a ghost, no," dad replies. "Possibly some kind of so-called medium taking people to drum up business."

"So you don't think it's alien?" Rose asks and dad, John and I exchange glances.

"No," dad replies. "The Doctor - he still had all his knowledge about alien life, did he not?" She nods. "So he would have been able to avoid being caught."

"Plus if I've learned anything from the episodes John insists on showing me," I add, "he never stays in trouble too long. The fact that he is still gone suggests that he is out of his depth. Fortunately I think I may know some people who can help."

"Sam and Dean?" John asks and I nod.

"Probably our only option now," I reply. "I'll get onto them, Sherlock you ..." I trail off as I spin around to look at dad, but he's gone. "Where did he go?"

"Whoever took him must have taken the Doctor too," Rose grimaces. "Two of the greatest minds in the universe and we've lost them."

"Good luck to whoever took them," John says and I frown in confusion. "They won't be able to get a word in edgeways."

"Well let's hope that they are still in a condition where they can," I reply. I can't help but think about what the other Doctor had said in Baskerville. The Final Problem is going to be pretty final. What if this is it?


	6. Chapter Five

"Sam, hi, it's Sophie," I say into my phone as the others watch.

"Hey Sophie," Sam replies and I hear him change to speakerphone. "What's up."

"What do you guys know about possession and disappearance?"

"What's happened?" Dean asks. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I reply. "It's Sherlock - he's disappeared." I hear a flutter of wings, as if a seagull had just swooped past and I turn around and lower my phone. "Hiya." Sam and Dean stand with a third man, slightly shorter than them both and dressed in a tan trench coat over a suit. Just from a quick look over him, I can tell he is out of place here. He isn't human.

"Hey shortie," Dean smiles as Rose and John recover from the shock. "Long time no see. This is Cas by the way - he's an angel, hence the flying thing. A lot better than planes." He looks over to Rose and his grin widens. "Wow Sophie, it's not my birthday but thanks."

"Rose Tyler," she says, stepping forwards and glaring at him. "I work for Torchwood. I should perhaps add that the Doctor has also disappeared."

"You know them?" John asks and she nods.

"I know of them," Rose corrects before turning to Sam and Dean. "So you hunt monsters?"

"Pretty much," Dean replies. "Demons, ghosts, werewolves. You name it, we hunt it."

"I met a werewolf once," Rose tells him. "Turned out it was an alien."

"So you're a hunter too?" Sam asks, stepping forwards.

"No," Rose replies. "Though it may feel like it sometimes, not all strange creatures are bad ones."

"Sweetheart, I'll believe it when I see it," Dean replies. "This thing that took Sherlock and the Doc for instance - from the smell of it, they've been taken by demons."

"Demons?" I repeat. "Seriously?"

"We just arrived by angel," Sam reminds me gently. "Demons exist too. Except they're very nasty work."

"So how do we stop them?" John asks, adjusting his position so he's standing more militaristic.

"And how do we get the Doctor and Sherlock back?" I add.

"Might be that we can kill two birds with one stone," Sam says and I frown.

"How so?"

"Oh my God," Rose says before the Winchesters can answer, her face paleing as she looks behind us. We spin around and dad and the Doctor stands behind us. Except something's not quite right about them.

"Where've you been Sherlock?" Dean asks slowly as I back away.

"I'm afraid Mr Holmes is unavailable at the moment," he replies and his eyes turn black. My own eyes widen as I step back and John takes hold of my hand.

"Doctor?" Rose tries but the same thing happens to the meta-Doctor.

"I am not the Doctor," he responds.

"Great," Dean says, tilting his head to the side. "A demon possessing an alien. Perfect."

"No he's human," Rose corrects. "Just has all the knowledge of a time-lord."

"Even better," Sam groans. All of a sudden, the demons snap their heads to the ground and disappear in a plume of black smoke.

"What the hell was that all about?" Dean asks, stepping forward and circling the spot they were standing a moment ago. "Wanted a little catch-up?"

"Crowley must have wanted them down in Hell," Cas considers. This is all going way to fast even for me.

"Okay so we've established they're demons," I say, trying to think straight. "So how do we get Sherlock and the Doctor back? Are they still inside?"

"Should be at the moment," Dean replies. "The demon will continue to eat away at them until there's no more human left but they keep the vessel. Usually they take them dead, so why are they suddenly chosing live victims?"

"Is it possible the others were a trap to get Sherlock and the Doctor?" I suggest. "Two of the greatest minds in the world and they're currently in the possession of Hell."

"It is possible," Sam answers, nodding. "They're both really strong, I can't see they'll go too quickly. If we're lucky we might be able to exorcise them before too much damage is done."

"Sounds like fun," Rose replies. "Can't we just shoot them?"

"Shoot the vessel and you only damage the person inside," Dean explains. "It's one of the few instances where you really shouldn't shoot first and ask questions later."

"Okay so how do we exorcise them?" John asks.

"Let us handle that," Dean replies. "Is there anywhere remote we can take them?"

"In London?" John scoffs but Rose nods.

"Yeah - Canary Wharf. Torchwood rebuilt the tower as a storage facility for some of the more unusual aliens we come across. There's some space in there we could use."

"Nice," Sam replies. "Meet you all there then in," he looks at his watch, "let's say an hour?"

"Sounds perfect," I reply. They nod and the three hunters set off. Could today get any weirder? Probably shouldn't ask.


	7. Chapter Six

An hour later we arrive at the base of Torchwood Tower and head towards the space Rose said we could use. Sam, Dean and Cas have already arrived and have marked out a pentagram in spray paint, and as we arrive they are pulling a metal sheet from the side of the room over to cover it.

"So basically Sophie it's up to you to attract Sherlock and the Doc's demons and bring them here," Sam explains as they drop the covering. "From then we need to get them onto the metal floor to trap them before I can exorcise them. Any questions?"

"No," Rose says, looking past Sam and towards the door at the other end, "but I don't think we'll have to worry about calling them." I look around the boys and see the live body of the Doctor watching us.

"I'm only going to ask the once," Dean says, turning around, "give Sherlock and the Doc back and we won't hurt you."

The demon insides the Doctor's vessel steps forward and grins. "We have managed to capture the two most powerful minds in the world. Why would we want to give them up? I can hear the Doctor now. He's a ferocious fellow." He continues forward and Rose puts her hand on her gun. "I wonder what would happen if I hurt his wife." He holds out his hand and Rose flies backwards, crashing against the wall at the far end and crumpling to the floor. Rose stands back up and draws her gun, shaking.

"Whoa!" Dean cries. "Rose no!"

"Don't move," she cries, stepping forwards, her gun poised towards the Doctor.

"Or what?" The demon asks. "You'll shoot me?" Rose doesn't answer, but continues to point the gun at him. He walks around the steel covering, careful not to step onto it and stands in front, smiling mockingly at the failed trick. "You won't hurt this body."

"Give him back to me!" Rose shouts and the demon grins.

"Make me."

Rose pauses for a moment then shoots. The bullet passes through his shoulder with enough force to send him toppling backwards into the Demon trap. Blood pours out but the demon looks unperturbed. The next step should be easy enough, but we'll be fighting time. Leave it too long and although the wound won't be fatal, the loss of blood will be.

But Sam is already on it. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica, ergo draco maledicte, ut ecclesiam tuam secura, tibi facias libertate servire, te rogamus, audi nos!" The Doctor's head tips back and black smoke escapes from his mouth, circling up before disappearing through the window.

Rose drops her gun and rushes forward to the Doctor's slumped body.

"Wait!" Sam says and reaches for a flask from his pocket. Stepping forward towards the Doctor, he opens the cap and pours something which appears to be water over his body.

The Doctor wakes up in agony.

"What the hell was that?"

"Sorry Doc," Dean says as Sam steps back again. "Just had to check. Welcome back." Cas steps forward and heals the Doctor in an instant. Rose helps him to sit up and he sits in silence for a few seconds before turning to her.

"Did you shoot me?!"

"Might have done," she grins sheepishly. "But you did throw me against a wall. Good to have you back."

"I'm glad to be back!" the Doctor grins and turns back. "And thank you everyone. But I'm afraid the worst of it is not over yet. I'm quite used to having things wandering around my mind but I used to be a lot stronger than I am now. The demons are planning to retake Earth and I may have given them the last key to cracking it. Fortunately for us, it's coded. It's what the other demon needed Sherlock for."

"Things are just getting better then!" John replies.

"Fortunately for us, Sherlock isn't the best at cracking codes," I reply, smiling. "It should buy us some time. Where is he?"

"In hell," the Doctor replies with a grimace. "I'm sorry Sophie. I'm so sorry."

"So you're just going to give up?" I ask. "What happened to saving the world and if you say it's a 'fixed point in time' or some shit like that I'm seriously going to come over there and give you another hole in your chest."

"Sophia!" Rose shouts defensively as the Doctor looks apologetically over. I turn to the Winchesters.

"There has to be some other way," I say. "Every second Sherlock is inside he's being killed and I'm dammed if I'm going to let this be the final problem." The others look at me, stunned. Eventually Sam speaks up.

"There could be a way," he says and I nod. "It's not without its risks but if you're sure you want to do this..."

"Sam no," Dean replies. "I know what you're thinking and it's not happening."

"You want her to lose her father as well?" Sam challenges. "She can do this, Dean."

"It's too dangerous, Sam," Cas says. "If heaven appears to be in turmoil, hell is worse. She'd never make it out alive."

Sam looks to me for my judgement and after a moment I nod.

"I'll give Crowley a ring," Sam says and Dean grimaces. John steps up behind me.

"You've got to be kidding," he says. "You're not going anywhere."

"John," I say, spinning around. "Unless you have forgotten, you are not my father and have no authority to tell me what I can or can't do. Sherlock is trapped inside hell so unless you have a better idea, I'm going in with him."

"I won't be able to live with myself if something goes wrong," John admits.

"I'll be fine," I brush off. "You have to be pretty ambitious to kill me!" John doesn't look happy but he accepts that he can't stop me.

"Okay," he says after a moment. "Don't go into any unnecessary danger -"

"I know!"

"No, listen," John says. "I want you back all in one piece, do you hear me?"

"Yes sir!" I reply, smiling nervously. I turn back to Sam. "Where do we start?"


	8. Chapter Seven

"You clear on what you have to do?" Dean asks me ten minutes later after he's finished explaining and giving me a safety talk.

"Some dude called Crowley is going to take me to hell so I can find Sherlock and exorcise him," I say nonchalantly. "Yeah, shouldn't be too difficult."

"I'm not just 'some dude', love, I'm the King of Hell," says a voice behind me and I turn around to see a smallish man dressed in a business suit standing behind me.

"I've only just accepted that hell and demons exist, I am not yet ready to learn it has a monarchy as well," I reply, somehow accepting his silent appearance. "Am I to assume Lucifer is just hanging around somewhere as well?"

"He's locked in the cage but yeah, pretty much," Sam replies and I roll my eyes. "You ready?"

"As ready as I will ever be," I shrug.

"Then let's go," Crowley replies and touches my arm.

I feel like I'm spinning very fast on some kind of mechanised roundabout as a whirl of colours surround me before we drop into darkness.

"Sorry, should probably have asked your permission to touch you," Crowley says, holding up his hands. "Just wanted to speed up the whole conversation thing." He starts walking towards the door at the end of what appears to be a throne room and I stride after him.

"Am I correct in assessing you're a demon?" I ask, catching up in a matter of seconds.

"They said you were smart," Crowley replies mockingly. "How did you figure that one out?!"

"But you're helping Sam and Dean," I continue, ignoring him. "I thought all demons were evil."

"Depends on who's side you're on," Crowley mutters as he leads me down a corridor.

"So what - there's factions now?"

"Crowley versus Lucifer, yes," Crowley replies. "And as you can see, I'm winning."

"Doesn't sound like it's going too great," I point out. "Not if you're allowing factions."

"I'm not," Crowley replies. "That's why I'm helping you." He stops outside a door. "He's in here. If you need a hand, don't bother calling me." He clicks his fingers and vanishes.

"Well that's helpful, cheers," I say to myself. I prepare myself for a moment, placing one hand on a flask Cas gave me and one on the door. Breathing deeply, I push the door open quickly and rush inside. The demon turns and is quickly on his feet, grins uncharacteristically at me.

"Have you come to save your daddy, little girl?" the demon posing as my dad asks, stepping forwards. "I wouldn't bother - there isn't a lot left."

"I've come to exchange places," I say stepping forwards. "I believe I will be more useful at cracking the code." The demon considers for a moment

"Your father would seem to agree," it says. "I have no use for him now." Dad's mouth opens and black smoke escapes again from inside. I rush forward and loop a pendant around dad's neck. The necklace has a pentagram design which according to Sam and Dean, prevent the demon re-entering his body. The smoke stops heading towards me, realising that I too have a necklace. I take the opportunity to grab dad, who has just enough consciousness to move his legs and follow me, and head towards the door. As I open the door, I grap the can of salt from my pocket and draw a quick line. Should keep him off our tail for a minute.

Dad wakens more as we round the corner towards the Throne Room and is fully conscious when I open the door and walk inside.

"You took your time," Crowley says, looking up from his place on his throne. "I was starting to consider getting worried."

"Lovely to know you care, Crowley," I say, rolling my eyes. "Now if you could get us out of here, that'd be great!"

"You going to say please?" I glare at him in response and he rolls his eyes in return. "The things I put up with."

He touches our hands and I feel the same sickening lurch as we spin back above ground.

"Jesus..." John cries as we emerge and fall to the ground. Crowley brushes down his suit.

"Special delivery," he says. "No need to thank me but some appreciation would be nice."

"We owe you one Crowley," Sam says and the demon king nods.

"You owe me more than one," he mutters before disappearing again.

"Fancy a drink, Sherlock?" Dean asks once he's gone.

"Of holy water?" dad replies and I frown, stunned. How does he know about holy water. "I'm not a demon, Dean!"

"We've just got to check, Sherlock," Sam explains calmly. The Doctor looks over, still sitting away from us but looking a little less shaken now.

"They did it to me," he adds. "It's nothing personal."

"I'm sure you've got nothing to hide," Dean continues.

"Fine," dad says reluctantly and Dean splashes his flask of holy water in dad's face. He recoils a little, but it doesn't seem to irritate his skin so it would seem he's clear.

"And Sophie?" Sam says. I widen my eyes in surprise.

"I'm not -"

"All the same," Sam says gently. "We just need to be safe."

I nod and immediately get a face full of water. I shake it off and grin.

"Well that was refreshing. We good now?"

"You're good," Dean agrees. "Anyway, I'm starving. Back to yours then for a pint Sherlock?"

"We don't have much in the way of food," John replies looking pointedly over to dad who was supposed to go shopping this week. "Might have a few pints in though."

"That's great, thanks John," Sam replies. "Hey Cas, do you reckon you could take us all back to Sherlock's?"

"I pulled you both out of Hell, Sam," the angel reminds the hunter. "I can manage a few more souls."

"Actually we're going off," Rose says as she helps the Doctor to his feet. "We've got some catching up to do. Thank you so much for your help, though."

Dean smiles at her. "Hey no problem. And sorry about our, er, little misunderstanding earlier. I didn't mean anything by it." She smiles and shakes her head, the Doctor looking relatively clueless. Sam grins at me and takes my hand as I take dad's. A few moments later the dizzying sensation returns as Cas flies us home.


	9. Epilogue

"Ooh!" As we land in the living room of 221B, Mrs Hudson shrieks in surprise. "What the bloody hell is going on!"

"Sorry Mrs H," John says, letting go of dad and Dean's hands, "you probably wouldn't believe us we we told you."

"It's Sam and Dean isn't it?" she asks, managing to get a clear view of the boys now the mass of bodies have parted slightly.

"Martha?!" Sam says in surprise, but I'm more taken aback at the use of what I assume to be her first name. I had never really considered she could be called anything other than 'Mrs Hudson'. "Wow, small world!" He looks to his brother who looks clueless. "Hey Dean, you remember Martha Hudson, right? She ran the, er, 'club' in Florida which had the problem with ghosts assaulting the dancers." Dad and I exchange glaces. First I'd heard of such a thing. Based on Sam's absence of detail, it sounds as though Mrs Hudson ran some kind of exotic dancing club in Flordia!

Dean's eyes widen. "Of course! Hey, how're you doing?!"

"I've got a hip, dear, but otherwise I'm fine," she explains. "This lot are keeping me on my toes." She widens her eyes. "Oh, I just baked a pie as well - I know how much you love pie, dear."

"Seriously?!" Dean says in disbelief. "This lady certainly knows how to win my heart!"

"Yes," dad says, rolling his eyes. "And she also knows how to test my patience. Now I'm surrounded by more idiots than ever."

"Yeah, thank you Sherlock," Sam says, frowning slightly as he looks over at dad. "We love you too."

"I need my pie..." Dean says after a moment. "Mrs Hudson, where's my pie?"

"It's in the fridge, dear," she tells him and he strides towards the stairs immediately. "Though you'll have to heat it yourself - I'm not your housekeeper!"

"You're a star Mrs H!" Dean calls from halfway down the stairs.

"Who are you?" dad asks suddenly, pointing to Cas. The angel turns and looks puzzled.

"I'm Castiel," he says, announcing his full name. "I'm an angel of the Lord."

"I fail to believe in the 'Lord'" dad replies. "He's nothing more than a fantasy made up by the delusional."

"I don't understand," Cas says, tilting his head to the side. "How can you not believe in God when you have witnessed hell?"

"I'm an atheist," dad mutters and Sam and I snigger.

"You lack faith, Sherlock Holmes," Cas says as Dean comes back upstairs.

"What would make you say that, Castiel?" dad asks.

"You two done flirting?" Dean asks as he re-enters the room.

"I'm not flirting!" dad scoffs. "But the same cannot be said for you, Dean." I roll my eyes. Here we go. "Your constant invasion of personal space with him, your longing stares. It's clear you're in love with him."

"You know what, cheekbones," Dean says defensively as Sam laughs. "For once, you're wrong. Me and Cas are nothing but friends, the guy is like a brother to me." I can't help but think he's protesting too much and I can see what dad it getting to. There does appear to be quite a profound bond between the angel and the hunter. "It's more you and Mr Jumpers that are together if anything," Dean continues.

"For God's sake," John says, turning around. "We're not together! Why does everybody always assume we're gay?!" Sam and I shake our heads, laughing as he turns to me, allowing the others to bicker.

"How're you holding up anyway? You took on a demon single-handedly today - that's pretty good going."

"It's not a lot different to what we do everyday," I reply shrugging.

"Except you don't go to hell and back every day," he points out.

"True," I grin. "I guess I'm just a natural then!"

"Are you okay generally though?" Sam asks, his brow furrowing in concern. "You seem more tense than usual."

"I think something's coming, Sam," I admit quietly. The noise of the room sheilds our speech. "I'm not sure what, but I don't think Sherlock's going to make it out alive." Sam's eyes widen.

"How can you be sure?" he asks.

"I can't," I say, shaking my head. "I'm only going on what the Doctor - the other Doctor - told me. You know in their world we're fictional, right?" He nods. "Well in their world we're nearing Sherlock's Final Problem and I don't know about you, but I don't like the sound of that." Sam shakes his head.

"Jesus Soph," he says in disbelief. "Call us the moment anything happens."

"Will do," I reply, nodding. "I don't think I'm ready, Sam."

"We'll do everything we can to stop it," he promises. Dean looks around to us.

"You ready Sammy?"

"Yeah, I guess," Sam replies, nodding. "I'll see you around then guys."

"Thanks for your help," I say to them both, smiling. "And it was nice to meet you, Castiel." The angel nods in acknowledgement but they're gone a second later. What was a full home now feels relatively empty. And I'm already bored.


End file.
